Editing Northern Wei (section)

== Policies ==
[[File:Shanxi Museum - coffin paintings.JPG|thumb|upright=1.5|Decorated panel of a Northern Wei sarcophagus. Excavated in Zhijiabao, [[Datong]]. Shanxi Museum.<ref>For a similar coffin see {{cite journal |last1=Karetzky |first1=Patricia Eichenbaum |last2=Soper |first2=Alexander C. |title=A Northern Wei Painted Coffin |journal=Artibus Asiae |date=1991 |volume=51 |issue=1/2 |pages=5–28 |doi=10.2307/3249674 |jstor=3249674 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3249674}}</ref>]]
Early in Northern Wei history, the state inherited a number of traditions from its initial history as a Xianbei tribe, and some of the more unusual ones, from a traditional Chinese standpoint, were:
* The [[Chinese officials|officials]] did not receive [[salaries]] until [[Empress Dowager Feng]] took power, but were expected to requisition the necessities of their lives directly from the people they governed. As Northern Wei Empire's history progressed, this appeared to be a major contributing factor leading to corruption among officials. Not until the second century of the empire's existence did the state begin to distribute salaries to its officials.
* Empresses were not named according to imperial favors or [[Chinese nobility|nobility]] of birth, but required that the candidates submit themselves to a ceremony where they had to personally forge golden statues, as a way of discerning divine favor. Only an imperial consort who was successful in forging a golden statue could become the empress.
* All men, regardless of ethnicity, were ordered to tie their hair into a single braid that would then be rolled and placed on top of the head, and then have a cap worn over the head.
* When a [[crown prince]] is named, his mother, if still alive, must be forced to commit suicide. According to some historians, this may not have been a Tuoba traditional custom, but believed it to be a tradition instituted by the founding emperor [[Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei|Emperor Daowu]] based on [[Emperor Wu of Han]]'s execution of his favorite [[concubine]] Consort Zhao, the mother of his youngest son [[Emperor Zhao of Han|Liu Fuling]] (the eventual Emperor Zhao), before naming Prince Fuling crown prince.
* As a result, because emperors would not have mothers, they often honored their [[wet nurse]]s with the honorific title, "[[Nurse Empress Dowager]]" (保太后, ''bǎo tài hòu'').

As [[Sinicization]] of the Northern Wei state progressed, these customs and traditions were gradually abandoned.

After building a Chinese-style capital at Ye, Tuoba Gui sought to break the autonomy of the tribes. He reorganised the people into eight artificial tribes forcibly settled around the capital, which served as military units. He also removed the traditional tribal leaders. These reforms helped to change tribal loyalties and strengthen their loyalty to the dynasty. These tribes served as the Emperor's personal professional military caste which helped to sustain the dynasty against any threats.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Lewis |first1=Mark Edward |author-link1=Mark Edward Lewis |title=China Between Empires: The Northern and Southern Dynasties |date=2011 |publisher=Harvard University Press |isbn=9780674060357 |pages=79–80}}</ref>

===The Reform under Empress Dowager Feng===
[[File:Officials, China, Northern Wei dynasty, c. 500-534, earthenware - Royal Ontario Museum - DSC04084.JPG|thumb|Figurines of Northern Wei court ladies (c. 500–534), Royal Ontario Museum.]]
After securing Xianbei hegemony in the hinterland of China, the North Wei regime, under the rule of [[Empress Dowager Feng]] (438–490; also known as Empress Dowager Wenming) implemented a package of reforms in 485-486 AD, greatly solidifying its fiscal foundations and strengthening state penetration to the local society.

This reform introduced two far-reaching policies, namely, the "equal-field landholding system", and the "three-elder system". In the new "equal-filed system" (''juntian zhi'') unveiled in 485, the state redistributed abandoned or uncultivated land to commoner subjects attached with obligations of tax duty in the forms of grain, cloth, and labor service. In principle, each household was entitled to lands proportional to its labor power. Specifically, two types of land with tenure were assigned to a household: the first was open land for crop cultivation (40 mu{{Efn|around 1.1 hectares or 2.7 acres}}) for each adult male in the household, and half those amounts for adult females which was returnable after the recipient reached a specific advanced age or died. The second was the land to support textile production (10 or 20 mu,{{Efn|around 0.28 hectares or 0.68 acres to 0.46 hectares or 1.36 acres}} with the same gender distribution principle as open land) in one of two forms, namely, "mulberry lands" in silk-producing areas, and "hemp lands" in regions where sericulture was infeasible. Importantly, mulberry land was inheritable because of the long-term investment and care mulberry orchards required. Households possessing slaves and plow oxen were entitled to substantially larger allocations. The open land allocations would be doubled or tripled in areas where the land was less fertile or the population sparse. Sale of these land grants was forbidden, although subleasing was permitted under some circumstances. Land allocations would be adjusted annually to account for changes in the composition of the household and its number of oxen.<ref name=vonGlahn-Econ2016>{{cite book |last1=von Glahn |first1=Richard |title=The Economic History of China: From Antiquity to the Nineteenth Century |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Z5C9CwAAQBAJ |date=2016 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9781139343848}}</ref>{{rp|297–311}}

Another policy was the establishment of the three-elders system (sanzhang-zhi) in 486, which was designed to compile accurate population registers and to integrate village society into the state administration. In this system, five households were to make up one neighborhood (li), headed by one neighborhood elder (linzhang) while five neighborhoods were grouped into a village and headed by one village elder (lizhang). Finally, over five villages, there was one ward elder (dangzhang). The three elders, appointed by the government, were responsible for detecting and re-registering population outside of state accounts, requisitioning corvee labor and taxes, and taking care of the poor and orphaned under their jurisdiction. This policy significantly bolstered the state's control over the common people.<ref name="ReferenceA">* [[Jacques Gernet]] (1972). "''A History Of Chinese Civilization''". Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-24130-8}}</ref>

The reforms of Empress Dowager Feng boosted agricultural production and tax receipts on a long-term basis, and broke the economic power of local aristocrats who sheltered residents under their control living in fortified villages that dotted the rural landscape of the North from taxation. The Northern Wei dynasty had doubled the registered population to more than 5 million households since the reforms.<ref name="Referenceebreg">* [[Ebrey, Patricia Buckley]] (1978). "The Aristocratic Families in Early Imperial China: A Case Study of the Po-Ling Tsui Family". Cambridge University Press.{{ISBN|1107020778}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Dien |first1=Albert |title=The Cambridge History of China: Volume 2, The Six Dynasties, 220–589 |date=2019 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-1107020771 |pages=461–478}}</ref>

These institutional infrastructures erected by the Northern Wei state survived the fall of the dynasty and paved the way for China's eventual unification in 589 AD under the Sui dynasty.

===Later reforms===
[[File:Northern Wei Pottery Figure (9924027666).jpg|thumb|Soldier figurine of Northern Wei]]
The Northern Wei used the previous dynasties' Nine-rank system as a way of assigning official positions to wealthy and prestigious Han Chinese families, according to hereditary rank. Officials were also given considerable autonomy, such as appointing subordinate officials.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Conrad Schirokauer, Miranda Brown |title=A Brief History of Chinese Civilization |date=2012 |publisher=Cengage Learning |isbn=9781133709251 |page=85 |edition=4}}</ref>

===Deportations===
During the reign of [[Emperor Daowu of Northern Wei|Emperor Daowu]] (386–409), the total number of deported people from the regions east of [[Taihangshan]] (the former Later Yan territory) to [[Datong]] was estimated to be around 460,000. [[Deportation]]s typically took place once a new piece of territory had been conquered.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

{| class="wikitable"
|+Northern Wei dynasty deportations
|-
!Year
!People
!Number
!Destination
|-
| 398
| Xianbei of Hebei and Northern [[Shandong]]
| 100,000
| [[Datong]]
|-
| 399
| Great Chinese families
| 2,000 families
| [[Datong]]
|-
| 399
| Chinese peasants from Henan
| 100,000
| [[Shanxi]]
|-
| 418
| Xianbei of Hebei
| ?
| [[Datong]]
|-
| 427
| Pop. of the Kingdom of Xia
| 10,000
| [[Shanxi]]
|-
| 432
| Pop. of Liaoning
| 30,000 families
| [[Hebei]]
|-
| 435
| Pop. of Shaanxi and Gansu
| ?
| [[Datong]]
|-
| 445
| Chinese peasants from Henan and Shandong
| ?
| North of Yellow River
|-
| 449
| Craftsmen from Chang'an
| 2,000 families
| [[Datong]]
|}

===Sinicization===
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| image1   = NorthernWeiMaitreya.JPG
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| footer=Northern Wei [[Buddha]] [[Maitreya]] (443 CE), and [[Buddhist]] statue (489 CE). [[Tokyo National Museum]].
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As the Northern Wei state grew, the emperors' desire for [[Han Chinese]] institutions and advisors grew. [[Cui Hao]] (381–450), an advisor at the courts in [[Datong]] played a great part in this process.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> He introduced Han Chinese administrative methods and penal codes in the Northern Wei state, as well as creating a [[The Northern Celestial Masters|Taoist theocracy]] that lasted until 450. The attraction of Han Chinese products, the royal court's taste for luxury, the prestige of Chinese culture at the time, and [[Taoism]] were all factors in the growing Chinese influence in the Northern Wei state. Chinese influence accelerated during the capital's move to [[Luoyang]] in 494 and [[Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei|Emperor Xiaowen]] continued this by establishing a policy of systematic [[sinicization]] that was continued by his successors. Xianbei traditions were largely abandoned. The royal family took the [[sinicization]] a step further by changing their family name to Yuan. Marriages to Chinese families were encouraged. With this, [[Buddhist]] temples started appearing everywhere, displacing Taoism as the state religion. The temples were often created to appear extremely lavish and extravagant on the outside of the temples.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> Also from 460 onwards the emperors started erecting huge statues of the Buddha carved near their capital Pingcheng which declared the emperors as the representatives of the Buddha and the legitimate rulers of China.<ref>{{cite book|last=Liu|first=Xinru|author-link=Xinru Liu|title=The Silkroad in World History|year=2010|publisher=Oxford University Press|page=77}}</ref>

The Northern Wei started to arrange for Han Chinese elites to marry daughters of the [[Xianbei]] [[Tuoba]] royal family in the 480s.<ref name="Watson1991">{{cite book|first=Rubie Sharon |last=Watson |title=Marriage and Inequality in Chinese Society|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gAIcwz3V_JsC&pg=PA80|year=1991|publisher=University of California Press|isbn=978-0-520-07124-7|pages=80–}}</ref> More than fifty percent of Tuoba Xianbei princesses of the Northern Wei were married to southern Han Chinese men from the imperial families and aristocrats from southern China of the [[Southern dynasties]] who defected and moved north to join the Northern Wei.<ref>{{cite thesis|url=https://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/33493331/TANG-DISSERTATION-2016.pdf?sequence=4&isAllowed=y |title= Divorce and the Divorced Woman in Early Medieval China (First through Sixth Century) |pages=151, 152, 153 |last=Tang |first=Qiaomei |date=May 2016 |type=A dissertation presented by Qiaomei Tang to The Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the subject of East Asian Languages and Civilizations |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=Harvard University}}</ref> Some Han Chinese exiled royalty fled from southern China and defected to the Xianbei. Several daughters of the Xianbei [[Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei]] were married to Han Chinese elites, the [[Liu Song]] royal Liu Hui 劉輝), married Princess Lanling (蘭陵公主) of the Northern Wei,<ref>{{cite book|title=Papers on Far Eastern History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BdtBAAAAYAAJ&q=liu+hui+wei+princess|year=1983|publisher=Australian National University, Department of Far Eastern History.|page=86}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hinsch |first1=Bret |title=Women in Early Medieval China |date=2018 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1538117972 |page=97 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=84BqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA97}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Hinsch |first1=Bret |title=Women in Imperial China |date=2016 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |isbn=978-1442271661 |page=72 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1L7kDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA72}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Lee |first1=Jen-der |editor1-last=Swartz |editor1-first=Wendy |editor2-last=Campany |editor2-first=Robert Ford |editor3-last=Lu |editor3-first=Yang |editor4-last=Choo |editor4-first=Jessey |title=Early Medieval China: A Sourcebook |date=2014 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=978-0231531009 |pages=156–165 |edition=illustrated |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AeiIl2y6vJQC&pg=PA161 |chapter=9. Crime and Punishment The Case of Liu Hui in the Wei Shu|ref=none}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=Australian National University. Dept. of Far Eastern History |title=Papers on Far Eastern History, Volumes 27–30 |date=1983 |publisher=Australian National University, Department of Far Eastern History. |pages=86, 87, 88 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BdtBAAAAYAAJ&q=liu+hui+lanling}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Wang |first1=Yi-t’ung |title=Slaves and Other Comparable Social Groups During The Northern Dynasties (386-618) |journal=Harvard Journal of Asiatic Studies |date=1953 |volume=16 |issue=3/4 |page=322 |doi=10.2307/2718246 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2718246 |publisher=Harvard-Yenching Institute|jstor=2718246 }}</ref> Princess Huayang (華陽公主) to Sima Fei (司馬朏), a descendant of [[Jin dynasty (266–420)]] royalty, [[Emperor Xiaozhuang of Northern Wei]]'s sisters, the Shouyang Princess, was wedded to the [[Liang dynasty]] ruler [[Emperor Wu of Liang]]'s son Xiao Zong [[w:zh:蕭綜|蕭綜]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Ancient and Early Medieval Chinese Literature (vol.3 & 4): A Reference Guide, Part Three & Four|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OWLPBAAAQBAJ&q=Xiao+Baoyin&pg=PA1566|date=22 September 2014|publisher=BRILL|isbn=978-90-04-27185-2|pages=1566–}}</ref> One of [[Emperor Xiaowu of Northern Wei]]'s sisters was married to Zhang Huan, a Han Chinese, according to the [[Book of Zhou]] (Zhoushu). His name is given as Zhang Xin in the ''[[Book of Northern Qi]]'' (Bei Qishu) and ''[[History of the Northern Dynasties]]'' (Beishi) which mention his marriage to a Xianbei princess of Wei. His personal name was changed due to a [[naming taboo]] on the emperor's name. He was the son of Zhang Qiong.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Adamek |first1=Piotr  |date=2017 |title=Good Son is Sad If He Hears the Name of His Father: The Tabooing of Names in China as a Way of Implementing Social Values |trans-title= |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WzQrDwAAQBAJ&q=zhang+emperor+xiaowu&pg=PA242 |url-status= |url-access= |format= |language= |location= |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1351565219 |archive-url= |archive-date= |page=242|via= |quote=... Southern Song.105 We read the story of a certain Zhang Huan 張歡 in the Zhoushu, who married a sister of Emperor Xiaowu 宣武帝 of the Northern Wei (r.}}</ref>

[[File:Northern Wei Tomb of Emperor Xuanwu, 499-515 AD (06) - Coffin.jpg|thumb|Sarcophagus of [[Emperor Xuanwu of Northern Wei|Emperor Xuanwu]] (483-515 CE).]]
When the Eastern Jin dynasty ended Northern Wei received the Han Chinese Jin prince Sima Chuzhi ([[w:zh:司馬楚之|司馬楚之]]) as a refugee. A Northern Wei Princess married Sima Chuzhi, giving birth to [[Sima Jinlong]] ([[w:zh:司馬金龍|司馬金龍]]). [[Northern Liang]] Xiongnu King [[Juqu Mujian]]'s daughter married Sima Jinlong.<ref name="WattMet2004">{{cite book |last1=Watt |first1=James C. Y. |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_JbdS-R3y72MC/ |title=China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200-750 AD |author2=Angela Falco Howard, Metropolitan Museum of Art Staff, Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, NY., Boris Ilʹich Marshak, Su Bai, Zhao Feng, Maxwell K. Hearn, Denise Patry Leidy, Chao-Hui Jenny Lui, Valentina Ivanova Raspopova, Zhixin Sun |date=2004 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |isbn=1588391264 |edition=illustrated |page=23}}</ref>{{rp|[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_JbdS-R3y72MC/page/n44 18]}}

The Northern Wei's Eight Noble [[Xianbei]] surnames ([[w:zh:八大贵族|八大贵族]]) were the Buliugu (步六孤), Helai (賀賴), [[Dugu (surname)|Dugu]] ([[w:zh:獨孤|獨孤]]), Helou (賀樓), Huniu (忽忸), Qiumu (丘穆), Gexi (紇奚), and Yuchi ([[w:zh:尉遲|尉遲]]). They adopted Chinese last names.

Kongzi was honoured in sacrifices as was Earth and Heaven by the northern dynasties of non-Han origin.<ref name="ChenShuguo2009">{{cite book|last=Shuguo |first=Chen |author-link=:zh:陈戍国 |others=Translated by [[:zh:南恺时|Keith N. Knapp]] |chapter=State religious ceremonies |editor-last1=Lagerwey|editor-first1=John|editor-link1=:de:John Lagerwey|editor-last2=Lü|editor-first2=Pengzhi|title=Early Chinese Religion, Part Two: The Period of Division (220–589 AD) (2 vols)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RSawCQAAQBAJ |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RSawCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA53|date=23 November 2009|publisher=[[Koninklijke Brill]]|isbn=978-90-474-2929-6}}</ref>{{rp|132}} Kongzi was honored by the Murong Wei Former Yan Xianbei leader.<ref name="ChenShuguo2009"/>{{rp|134}} Kongzi was honored by the Di ruler [[Fu Jian (337–385)]].<ref name="ChenShuguo2009"/>{{rp|135}} Kongzi was honored in sacrifices by the Northern Wei Xianbei dynasty. Kongzi was honored by Yuoba Si, the Mingyuan emperor.<ref name="ChenShuguo2009"/>{{rp|140}} Han dynasty emperors, Shang dynasty ruler Bigan, Emperor Yao and Emperor Shun were honored by Yuoba Si, the Mingyuan Emperor. Kongzi was honored extensively by Tuoba Hong, the Xiaowen Emperor.<ref name="ChenShuguo2009"/>{{rp|141}}

A fief of 100 households and the rank of (崇聖侯) [[Duke Yansheng#Three Kingdoms period .28220.E2.80.93280 CE.29 through Northern and Southern dynasties era .28420.E2.80.93589.29|''Marquis who worships the sage'']] was bestowed upon a Confucius descendant, [[Yan Hui]]'s lineage had 2 of its scions and Confucius's lineage had 4 of its scions who had ranks bestowed on them in Shandong in 495 and a fief of ten households and rank of (崇聖大夫) ''Grandee who venerates the sage'' was bestowed on Kong Sheng (孔乘) who was Confucius's scion in the 28th generation in 472 by Emperor Xiaowen of Northern Wei.<ref name="LiGang2009">{{cite book|last=Gang |first=Li |others=Translated by Tatiana Boucabelle |chapter=State religious policy |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RSawCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA193 |editor-last1=Lagerwey|editor-first1=John|editor-link1=:de:John Lagerwey|editor-last2=Lü|editor-first2=Pengzhi|title=Early Chinese Religion, Part Two: The Period of Division (220-589 AD) (2 vols)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RSawCQAAQBAJ|date=23 November 2009|publisher=[[Koninklijke Brill]]|isbn=978-90-474-2929-6}}</ref>{{rp|257}}

An anti-Buddhist plan was concocted by the Celestial Masters under [[Kou Qianzhi]] along with [[Cui Hao]] under the Taiwu Emperor.<ref name="Xunliao2009">{{cite book|last=Xunliao |first=Zhang |others=Translated by J.E.E. Pettit|chapter=Daoist stelae of the Northern Dynasties |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RSawCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA437 |editor-last1=Lagerwey|editor-first1=John|editor-link1=:de:John Lagerwey|editor-last2=Lü|editor-first2=Pengzhi |title=Early Chinese Religion: The Period of Division (220–589 Ad)|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RSawCQAAQBAJ|date=30 October 2009|publisher=[[Koninklijke Brill]]|isbn=978-90-04-17585-3}}</ref>{{rp|533}} The Celestial Masters of the north urged the persecution of Buddhists under the Taiwu Emperor in the Northern Wei, attacking Buddhism and the Buddha as wicked and as anti-stability and anti-family.<ref name="Xunliao2009"/>{{rp|534}} Anti Buddhism was the position of Kou Qianzhi.<ref name="Xunliao2009"/>{{rp|535}} There was no ban on the Celestial Masters despite the nonfullfilment of Cui Hao and Kou Qianzhi's agenda in their anti-Buddhist campaign.<ref name="Xunliao2009"/>{{rp|539}}

Cui Zhen's wife Han Farong was buried in a Datong located grave.<ref>{{multiref2 |{{cite news |last=Jarus |first=Owen |date=2016-08-17 |title=Ancient Bling: Exquisite Jewelry Found in Tomb of Chinese Woman |url=https://www.livescience.com/55790-ancient-bling-found-in-chinese-tomb.html |work=[[LiveScience]] |access-date=2024-03-18}} |{{cite news |date=2016-08-17 |title=Elaborate Tomb Discovered in China |url=http://www.archaeology.org/news/4767-160817-china-northern-wei-dynasty-tomb |work=[[Archaeology (magazine)|Archaeology]] |access-date=2024-03-18}} }}</ref>

=== Building the Great Wall ===
To resist the threats posed by the [[Rouran]]s, Northern Wei emperors started to embark on building its own [[Great Wall]], the first since the Han dynasty. In 423, a defence line over 2,000 ''li'' ({{convert|1080|km}}) long was built; its path roughly followed the old [[Zhao (state)|Zhao]] wall from [[Chicheng]] County in Hebei Province to [[Wuyuan County, Inner Mongolia]].<ref>{{cite book | last = Lovell | first = Julia | author-link = Julia Lovell | title = The Great Wall : China against the world 1000 BC – 2000 AD | publisher = Picador Pan Macmillan | location = Sydney | year = 2006 | isbn = 978-0-330-42241-3 }}</ref> In 446, 100,000 men were put to work building an inner wall from [[Yanqing County|Yanqing]], passing south of the Wei capital [[Pingcheng]], and ending up near Pingguan on the eastern bank of the Yellow River. The two walls of Northern Wei formed the basis of the double-layered [[Xuanfu]]–[[Datong]] wall system that protected Beijing a thousand years later during the Ming dynasty.

===Governance===

Local society in northern China was not governed by civil bureaucrats but by military clientage during the reign of the Northern Wei Xianbei emperors, with the local Han Chinese aristocratic families jointly ruling and controlling power with them. The Han Chinese aristocrat families ruled over their private fiefs (home jurisdictions) with large military authority and civil authority as entrusted to them by the Xianbei emperor. The Xianbei emperor also turned their own Xianbei nomad warriors into a hereditary military caste and extinguish their tribal loyalties. To the consternation of the Xianbei nobles, Han Chinese aristocrats started to be appointed to government positions by the Northern Wei emperors when the Central Plains population regrew in the middle of the 5th century.

Han Chinese commoners started pledging their allegiance as buqu (部曲) (armed retainers) to elite Han Chinese aristocratic magnates in their wubao (塢堡) (fortified settlements) when the local communities relied on the magnates to direct their defense after the [[Disaster of Yongjia|311 sack of Luoyang]]. Oaths were pledged in alliances between paramount commanders who joined their fortress villages together in leagues.<ref name="vonGlahn-Econ2016" />{{rp|170}} The magnates retained the services and fealty of their thrall retainers after the fighting was over. Subject to the emperor was overtaken by the concept of village membership. Magnates had both unrelated bondsmen, private clients and fellow clan kinsmen in their armies. 50 to 60 square leagues of farmland in Hebei's southwest Taihang mountain foothills were taken as a fief by thousands of members of the Han Chinese aristocratic Zhaojun Li clan under the leader of a cadet leader of the clan, Li Xianfu. Clan loyalties were extensively utilized by local magnates.<ref name="vonGlahn-Econ2016" />{{rp|171}}  Li Xianfu was appointed as zongzhu (宗主) (clan chief) by the clan collectively in spite of him not inheriting the officer and rank of his father which went to his elder brother. Local level order was controlled by Li Xiangu and other magnates and the Northern Wei Xianbei monarchs had to rely on them. The Northern Wei gave them title of governors officially in their fiefs.

In Shanxi and Hebei the magnate clans became even more powerful and local society was dominated by them and they experienced increased solidarity due to Northern Wei patronage. These arrangement with local Han Chinese aristocratic magnate clans led to a lack of soldiers and revenue directly under the control of the Northern Wei state itself. Particularly after the 460s when Liu Song held Huaibei and Shandong were taken by the Northern Wei they needed soldiers and tax revenue. Nobles, officials and meritorious generals received large amounts of lihu (隸戶) or tongli (僮隸) (bondservants) from war captives in according with Xianbei nomad tradition during wars. These bondservants, compared to the past, made up a large part of the farming population under Northern Wei. The zahu (雜戶) (service households) made out of artisans, weavers, salt makers, entertainers, clerks were also turned into hereditary occupations among war captives captured by Northern Wei, while privately entertainers and craftsmen were also attached to magnate families. The few independent farmers under Northern Wei were subjected to the demands of corvée labor from the states due to the fact that Xianbei noble and Han Chinese aristocratic households controlled the majority of the population as retainers.

The Northern Wei attempted to back up its thinly stretched Xianbei warriors by conscription Han Chinese free subjects into their military in 473 but this only let to the magnates gaining more private client retainers as the Han Chinese farmers chose to became retainers to evade the conscription and corvée. These were the regions for the reforms under Empress Dowager Wenming (438–90)<ref name="vonGlahn-Econ2016" />{{rp|172}} when she tried to turn the state into a Han Chinese style bureaucratic centralized empire. She reigned as regent for her grandson Emperor Xiaowen and brought into the Northern Wei government Han Chinese aristocrats. The capital was moved to the Central Plain's Luoyang away from Pingcheng in 493 by Emperor Xiaowen.<ref name="vonGlahn-Econ2016" />{{rp|173}}
 
The system of having retainers (buqu) existed in the Xin dynasty to the Tang dynasty and was part of the Northern Wei.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Tseng |first1=Chin-Yin |title=The Representation of Military Troops in Pingcheng Tombs and the Private Household Institution of Buqu in Practice |journal=Asian Studies |date=2019 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=221–243 |doi=10.4312/as.2019.7.2.221-243 |url=https://revije.ff.uni-lj.si/as/article/view/8313|doi-access=free }}</ref>